Rotary gas-engine.



G. W. MORGAN.

ROTARY GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 4, 1913.

,wy .1. I, v w l l I I 2 SHEETS'TSHEET 1.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914.

0. W. MORGAN.

ROTARY GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DBUA, 191 3.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914.

d m U W w H UN h. w E N Y :9 m ma .Q m/ w\ N\ v [|.r\ l 1| n w b UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. MORGAN, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT ANDMESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO GASOLINE TURBINE MOTOR COMPANY, OF RACINE, WIS-CONSIN.

ROTARY GAS-ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. MORGAN, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State ofWisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in R0- taryGas-Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof.

The ob ect of my invention is to provide a simple, economical and highlyefficient valveless gas engine of the rotary type, the construction andarrangement being such that in the cycle a volume of gas is introducedsuccessively into a series of gas pockets of a rotor and is thereaftercompressed followed by ignition coincident to registration of a pocketwith a combustion chamber that is formed in a shell about the rotor,whereby power is applied to said rotor -through force exerted upon ashiftable piston that is carried by the same. The cycle is completed bythe combustion piston traveling beyond the field of the firing chamber,which chamber is provided with an open end in communication with anexhaust port formed in the shell, it being understood that previous tothe introduction of the fuel charge within a gas pocket a partial vacuumis formed therein in conjunction with the pocket being brought intoregistration with a receiving chamber that is also formed in theaforesaid shell. The arrangement and construction also contemplates theembodiment of a suction and compression piston, which piston is adaptedto travel in the receiving chamber and effect the desired suction andcompression operations.

\Vith the above objects in view the inven tion consists in. certainpeculiarities of construction and combination of parts as hereinafterset forth with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequentlyclaimed.

In the drawings Figure l-represents a sectional elevation of an engineembodying the features of my invention, Fig. 2, a crosssection of thesame, the section being indicated byline 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a similarcross-section, the same being taken upon a plane as indicated by line3-3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4, a detailed cross section asindieated by line44 of Fig. 1.

Referring by characters to the drawings,

1 represents a water-cooled cylindrical shell provided with an integralcap 2, and a removable cap 3. The shell is cut away circumferentiallythrough a portion of its circumference to form an exhaust port l, whichport, communicates with the open end of a combustion chamber 5 that isformed within the inner circular wall of saidshell, extending apredetermined distance from the exhaust port and at its closed end 5 thesaid combustion chamber merges into the cir cular shell wall, throughthe medium of a gentle curve or slope. At a slight distance from theclosed end 5 of the combustion chamber the inner circular wall of theshell recedes in a gradual curve to form'one end of a circular receivingchamber (3, the oppo site end of said chamber being similarly curvedupward to the general circular wall of the shell, whereby a solidcircular cut-01f face 7 is formed between the juxtaposed end of thereceiving chamber and the exhaust port 4. As shown by the drawings, thereceiving chamber 6 is of much greater area than the combustion chamber.

The caps 2 and 3 of the shell are provided with centrally disposed hubsfor the reception of a shaft 8, which shaft has fixedly secured theretoa rotor 9. The removable cap 3 of the shell is provided with an inwardlyprojecting centrally disposed hollow head 10, the bore of which is ofsufiicient diameter to form an air chamber 10 about the hub. portion 9'of the rotor, which hub portion projects into the head and abuts theadjacent cap 3, as shown, the said cap being provided with ventapertures 10 that'communicate with the air chamber. The head 10 is cutaway radially to form an air passage 10", as best shown in Fig. 1, andthe exterior face of the head is also recessed to form a gas chamber 11,which gas chamber is closed by the annular wall of a circular recess 9"that is formed in the rotor, the said wall, together with the head,being slightly tapered to forma ground joint fit. A volatile gaseousfluid is supplied to the gas chamber by means of a pipe 12, it beingunderstood that the fuel is preferably carbureted air, but. in someinstances, kerosene or other gaseous fluids may be utilized as asubstitute therefor.

The rotor is provided with two or more gas pockets 13 which extend fromthe periphery of said rotor to the circular recess 9" therein, it beingunderstood that the spring-pressed metallic rotor is arranged to travelin the direction as indicated by the arrow. Pivotally mounted in eachgas pocket, or in immediate advance thereof, is a combustion piston 14,the free end of which pistonis adapted to impinge against the bottomWall of the combustion chamber, being thrown insuch position bycentrifugal force. Outward movement of each combustion piston 14 islimited by an, offset shoulder portion which is adapted to abut acorresponding shoulder portion of the rotor that is formed about theoscillatory seat of said piston. Directly rearward of each gas pockettherotor is tangentially slotted for the reception of a reciprocativereceiving piston 15. These pistons extend flush with the sides of therotor, whereby their side edges form steam-tight joints in connectionwith the shell caps, which jointsare packed by suitablespring-controlled "strips 16 having anchor-dowels for holding the samein position. Each receiving piston 15 may also, as shown, be providedwith coiled springs 17, which coiled springs are seated within socketsformed in the rotor below the piston, whereby said pistons are pressedoutwardl it being understood, however, that, in some instances, thesprings may be dispensed with, under which conditions the centrifugalforce will serve to throw the same outwardly to their working positions.The shell 1 is also provided with an aperture 1' that communicates withthe combustion chamber adjacent to its closed end, the said aperturebeing for thepur--* pose of receiving a spark-plug 18. This plug carriesan insulated conductor having one or more exposed spring terminals 19,as shown, which terminals are arranged to be engaged by metallic ends ofthe combustion pistons, whereby ignition is effected, it being"understood that the electric current for supplying the spark isgrounded through the rotor.

In order to insure aperfectly tight joint betweenthe combustion pistonand the bottom wall of the combustion chamber, each piston may,as'shown, be provided with .1. packing strip 14', which packing stripwill thus be yieldingly pressed against the opposing face of theaforesaid combustion chamber. In order to prevent premature sparkingeach of the} combustion pistons has embedded therein a, strip of fiber14" or other non-conducting material, which strips are alined with thecontact spring terminals 19, the same being adapted to travel thereoverand eflect closure of the circuit co-incident to their engagement withthe free end of the piston.

As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, a

gas pocket is in communication with the' closed ,elid of the combustionchamber, the

said "as ocket containin a char e of com-' a, P a g pressed gaseous-fluid. Owing to the fact tween said open end and the exhaust port 4.Hence the spent gases will be expelled to atmosphere and, owing to therapid movement of .the rotor, fresh air will be sucked through the ventholes into the air chamber 10 and from thence 'said fresh air will beexpelled through the gas pocket to thus thoroughly scavenge the same, it

being understood that the inner end or mouth of the gas pocket at thistime has established communication between the air chamber and exhaustport through the air passage 10". Co-incident to cleansing of the gaspocket the reciprocative receiving piston 15, which is related to thepreceding pocket and rearward thereof, has entered the receiving chamber6 and, in its travel therein, created a vacuumrearward of said precedingpiston. The oncoming empty gas pocket previously mentioned will now,after passing the cut-off face 7, establish communication between thatportion of the receiving chamber containing a partial vac;

uum and, -co-incident to establishing this communication, the innerormouth end of the pocket traveling about the head. 10 will establishcommunication ber 11 in said head, whereby with the gas chant a chargeof carbureted air will be drawn into the pocket and receiving chamber,to thus balance the partial vacuum previously efl'ected, it beinunderstood that the receiving piston in advance of the pocket in themeantime is creating a suction to thoroughly fill the chamber and pocketwith the desired quantity of gas. After this has been effected,

the inner end of'the pocket 13 is cut off fromthe gas chamber and itscompanion receiving piston will now start to compress the charge to thedesired-volume preparatory to being fired, it being understood that whenthis compression takes place that the receiving piston inygadyance whichhad produced the suction stroke has passed beyond the end of thereceiving chamber. Thus .the cycle is completed.

From the foregoing it is apparent that eac'h3"f eteizingpiston performsa double function, that is,-while compressing a charge of gas in advanceit is simultaneously creating a, vacuum rearwardly for the introductionof another charge of gas. It will also be understood that the receivingpistons when not in operation will ride upon the edge walls of thecombustion chamber and exhaust port 4 and will thus be held againstradial throw-out until such time as they reach the receiving chamber,the side walls of which are flush with the shell caps 2 and 3.

While I have shown and described an engine provided with three sets ofgas pockets and related mechanism, it is apparent that v two of suchsets or a greater number may be utilized without departing from thespirit of my invention. It is also within the scope of my invention toarrange several shells and rotors upon a. single shaft for increasingthe elliciency; of the motor. Furthermore it should be understood that,while I have shown and described one e'xemplification of my inventionminutely as to details of construction, I may, without departing fromthe spirit of my invention, vary any or all of such details within theskill of the mechanic.

Attention is also called to the facttha-t the combustion pistons 14 areprovided with tail-pieces 15 in order to effect a partial balance ofpressure incidental to a gas explosion whereby undue friction iseliminated in com nection with the joint betweenthese pistons and thebottom wall of the combustion chamher.

I claim 1. A rotary gas engine comprisin a cylindrical shell having areceiving cham er and a combustion chamber separated from each other andformed in its interior circular wall, the shell being provided with anexhaust port in communication with one end of thecombustion chamber, arotor mounted 1n the shell adapted to close the ends of the receiving,chamber and the firing end of the,

combustion chamber, the rotor being provided with peripheral gaspockets, a shiftable combustion piston carried by said rotor in advanceof each gas pocket, a shiftable re, ceiving piston carried by said rotorrear- Wardlv of each gas pocket, a vented contrally disposed headprovided with a gas atmosphere,

.rotor in advance of each face mounted chamber carried by the shell, thesaine being arranged to successively establish communi-' cation from itsvented portion to the exhaust ,port through the gas pocket and from itsgas chamber through the gas pocket to the receiving chamber.

2. A rotary gas engine comprising acylin- .drical shell pro-vided with agas receiving chamber and a combustion chamber separated from eachother, the combustion chamher being of comparatively small area andhaving one end in communication with the a rotor having radiallydisposed pockets extending therethrough, a head carried by the shelladapted to control the inner ends ofthe pockets the head being providedwith an air chamber having a passage therethrough and a gas chamber inits periphery, a shiftable combustion piston carried by the pocket, anda shiftable receiving piston carried by said rotor rear'wa rdly of eachpocket.

3. A rotary engine comprising a shell provided with inner circular wallshaving an exhaust port therethrough, a combustion chamber formed in thecircular wall in communication with the exhaust port and a receivingchamber formed in the circular wall spaced from the exhaust port andcombustion chamber, afixed head carried by the shell having a-vented airchamber in communication with the exterior face of said head, and a gaschamber formedin the exterior walls of said head, a rotor having acircular within the shell, the rotor begas pockets extending providedwith radial the head, and a ing from its periphery to pair of shiftableupon opposite sides of the perlpheral mouth of each gas pocket.

In testimony have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee 1nthe county ofMilwaukee and Stgte of WIS- consin in the presence of two witnesses.

' CHARLES W. vMORGrJ-KN. Vitnesses Geo. 'W; YOUNG, M. E. DowNEY.

pistons carried by the rotor that I claim the foregoingI

